Cloud computing is its own paradigm. It changes the fundamentals for every enterprise on the planet and every investor needs to be prepared to navigate its impact.

The Cloud is going to be one of the biggest growth industries in the history of business. And in our new book, “30 Stocks for the Cloud Revolution”, we’ve identified the 30 companies best positioned to benefit from this huge new tech sector.

Summary: Amazon.com, Inc. is a worldwide online retailer. The company serves its consumer customers through its retail Websites and focuses on selection, price, and convenience.

Balance Sheet

Cash and Cash Equivalents: 3.7 B

Short Term Investments: 4.9 B

Long term Investments: –0

Total Cash: 8.6 B

Total Debt: –0

Net Cash: 8.6 B

Outstanding Shares: 451 M

Net Cash / Share: 19

Share Price: 185

Enterprise Value / Share: 166

Total Market Cap: 83 B

Enterprise Value: 74.4 B

2012 Sales Growth: 26.2%

2012 Earnings Estimate: 4.39

Enterprise Value Multiple: 38 Times Forward Earnings

Dividend & Yield: N/A

I remember walking down Park Avenue in 1999 and seeing a truck pull a giant green sign reading “Amazon.com” and saying something about discount books. What a long way Amazon’s come from those early days when it was mostly known as a competitor to Barnes & Noble and a local-bookstore killer on steroids. They soon added other retail sectors to their site, and then opened their site to would-be competitors.

As Amazon grew over the last decade to become the biggest retailer on the Internet and a name so powerful in retail that it invokes Wal-Mart kind of responses from suppliers, it realized it could use that same wholesale model in the cloud. You can download and/or stream music and/or videos from Amazon or you can do the same from any of a plethora of other companies who are providing similar retail services using Amazon’s cloud wholesale infrastructure.

At 38x forward earnings, this is still not a cheap stock, but it rarely has been, as the market has long seemingly “overpaid” for the company’s earnings. But as earnings have indeed exploded higher over the last decade, the stock has been in a long up-cycle itself. I’ve always been one of those hesitant Amazon bulls and I remain so at these levels.

Revolution Investing Rating: 5/10

For each of the 30 stocks we’ve identified as most widely exposed to the Cloud Revolution, we give a brief description of each company’s primary businesses and outline some of the most important balance sheet and business fundamentals. Rather than just going with a simple P/E, we break down the enterprise value of each company, which makes companies that have huge cash balances and lots of flexibility look cheaper than those carrying big net debt loads around their necks.

From there I give you some of my trademarked cut-throat Revolution Investing analysis including some history of the company, how it’s trying to position itself for the Cloud Revolution and how much I like or dislike the investment prospects for that company.

And for those of you who really just want a short hand rating system, don’t worry. I put a Revolution Investing rating from 5 to 10 on each stock (I didn’t include any of the dozens of lower rated Cloud Revolution Stocks we researched). Indeed, the aforementioned Amazon.com is one of the lowest rated stocks in the book. To find out the highest rated stocks, just get your hands the new eBook, “30 Stocks for the Cloud Revolution”, now available as part of my brand new iPad and iPhone app for all of my investing books at http://bit.ly/apprevolutionapp or by subscribing to TradingWithCody.com, where you get access to all my investment books for free.

At time of publication, Willard, author of Revolution Investing and Trading With Cody, had no positions in the stocks mentioned in this column although positions can change at any time. None of the information in this column constitutes a recommendation by Willard of any particular security or that any security or trading strategy is suitable for any specific person.

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About The Cody Word

Cody Willard writes the Revolution Investing investment newsletter for MarketWatch and posts the trades from his personal account at TradingWithCody.com He is the founder of WallStreetAll-Stars.com and the principal of CL Willard Capital. Cody serves as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University and is on the University of New Mexico Alumni Board. He was an anchor on the Fox Business Network, where he was the co-host of the long-time #1-rated show on the network, Fox Business Happy Hour. Cody, a former hedge fund manager, and his stock picks and economic outlooks have been featured on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, ABC’s 20/20, CBS Evening News, CNBC’s SquawkBox, Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, as well as in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and many other outlets.